After about another hour of trudging up more of the never-ending stairs, Al had to stop and rest. His body just wasn’t up to all these stairs after fighting and being beaten by the monster. He figured he was either going in circles and didn’t know it or he was going to the roof of an extremely large building. Neither of which Al liked the idea of.

“I wish Brother were here…he always came up with the brilliant escapes.” As soon as Al realized what he had said, he knew that, once again, he was showing signs of having forgotten something. “That’s it! I give up! I’ll figure this out then maybe you’ll let me go!” He screamed, looking pointedly at the stairs sitting under his boots.

Now then. What was he missing? It seemed to him, that he’d lost a good chunk of his memory. Ed was 22...and he was only 15. But it had made sense when his brother had first reappeared. He was supposed to be that age. Just like Al was supposed to be 15. And he had never questioned it before. But it didn’t make sense. None at all. Before Ed had disappeared, Ed had only been a year older than Al. And Ed was 10. Al was 9. How much time had he really missed?!

So how exactly could Al forget--no, lose six years of his life? He couldn’t have just forgotten them, he’d be older. When had he been trapped in armor? And what the hell was a blood seal?!

As Al thought of all these questions, he stared down at his own flesh hands. He could remember, slightly, when he didn’t have the touch that he felt. He couldn’t feel, he couldn’t taste…he couldn’t remember. Slowly, those flesh hands were replaced my steel gauntlets. Gauntlets that belonged to the armor, that Al had been.

But even if Al had tried to think harder about that, he couldn’t. Because Alphonse Elric had passed out.

~*~

Roy had been gone for a number of odd hours, along with Maes and Havoc. They had gone in search of any sign of Al and had promised that they would call if there was even a slight hint at his whereabouts. Armstrong and Hawkeye had gone to find food, hoping to calm the bristle that had once been Edward.

Ed was more than a nervous wreck without his little brother. It was hard enough to live those six awful years in Germany without him…but now he finally had him back and the smallest idea that he might have lost him again made Ed go insane.

His hair was braided back like always, but the hair that had escaped had become very upset because of the hands constantly tugging at it. Ed’s normally bright amber eyes were even more dulled by having not slept for over a day and his clothes, which still didn’t feel right, looked rather like rags.

A knock on the hotel room door made Ed jump with fright, but he quickly brushed it off and went to see who it was. Outside was Roy, so naturally, Ed let him in.

“Did you find out anything?!” Ed somehow managed to not notice that Roy was now back in uniform, when clearly that would get him shot in Lior.

“Huh?” The older man looked confused for a second.

“About Al! My brother? The one you were supposed to be looking for?!” Ed snapped at him. The man shook his head slightly.

“I…I’m just worried. That’s all.” Ed whispered fiercely before tugging the taller man into a tight hug. It was then that Ed realized the uniform. “What the--?” He pushed back, looking up at a face that was no longer that of Roy Mustang’s.